A/N: I guess this is a double chapter. I hope you enjoy.
Auren's hand is glowing with an intense Aura as he activates his first Hatsu, Azure Restoration, quickly turning into the familiar Azure color.
The injured wolf stares at him, obviously sensing the Aura, unable to comprehend what's happening.
However, Auren simply stretches his hand forward and blasts a beam of Aura towards the wolf, not approaching the wolf, thus not alarming it beforehand.
He then keeps up the beam, simply using Emission to turn Azure Restoration into a ranged Hatsu.
It only takes around twenty seconds until the wolf visibly recovers, its eyes full of confusion and wonder.
It lets out a slight howl and then stares at the other wolf, violently biting into its head and tearing off its face.
"What the hell..." Goreinu says. "These things are mad... they can't be reasoned with... I'd call them demonic even. Cannibalism? Rage? Why are they like this? Auren, why did you heal it?"
"Because I don't intend to wait here for days until it has recovered on its own," Auren explains, shrugging. "Let the wolf... eat.... More importantly, Leira... what do you think about that snake? I can confirm that it's extremely dangerous. I stared at it for just a split second, and I almost lost control... it's extremely deadly."
Leira, Oculus sitting on her shoulder, analyzes its fellow snake. "This is... its entire structure may resemble a snake on the outside... and its core DNA and features match, but I'm getting a large amount of completely unknown data... this is incredible. The wolves and the round beasts shared that feature, but to a much lesser degree."
"Excuse me, am I the only one not comfortable discussing scientific discoveries while a damn colossal wolf is brutally tearing apart another one just a few meters behind us?" Konrad asks, his face pale and full of disgust.
"..."
Most seem to agree; only Vanessa and Leira appear to be perfectly calm, with the addition of Auren, who decided on this strategy in the first place.
"Remain calm... if this frightens you, it might be best to turn around now. This is your last chance. I can kill it within seconds... but I can't guarantee that if there are a dozen of them around," Auren warns them.
Remaining still, the others slowly prepare themselves mentally before the insatiable wolf continues moving forward, its cage now stacked to the very top, blood dripping down and onto its body, while its own body is filled to the brim as well.
Satisfied, it walks on, briefly glancing at Auren, its expression not hostile at all, resembling a wicked, nightmarish look that can barely be described as a smile.
Following it, the group encounters one more wolf, whose cage is filled with meat as well. While it glances at the group with slight growls, it moves on without acting on its hostility.
Using En, Auren spots another suspicious snake up ahead.
"Careful... there is one more snake up ahead," Auren warns the others. "And it seems to be ignoring the wolves... I got a feeling it's looking at our location, though. We need to take it out."
"Vanessa... do you think you can take care of it?" he continues, asking her.
"Really?" she replies. "How?"
"Drop a Meteor Fist on it. Preferably combined with In. Don't forget, this island is essentially a locked prison. These snakes don't know Nen users. It will never expect such an attack... it can only fight wild wolves, not true Nen users... especially not Hunters!" Auren walks over to her and accurately relays the exact location of the snake.
Vanessa, using Gyo, finally spots it after a brief search, seeing the small Aura surrounding the snake in the distance.
"Got it," she says, raising her Aura but also doing her best to hide it with In. Despite her progress, her In is not flawless, which is why she takes her sweet time so as not to create huge Aura fluctuations.
Finally, she gathers her Aura in her fist and unleashes a moderately sized Meteor Fist, a large amount of Aura getting sent into the sky.
Just a few seconds later, Auren briefly uses Gyo himself, noticing the meteor before switching back to En. With delight, he sees the meteor smash right onto the snake, creating a loud and dull sound, crushing it in a violent explosion that sounds like a bomb, powerful enough that the ground shakes, and muddy water spills everywhere. The wolves, way up ahead, look back, but ultimately decide to move on after spotting nothing.
Auren and the group quickly veer towards the snake's location, but are unable to locate its body in the crater in front of them; they quickly move on and continue chasing after the wolves, not bothering to search any longer.
Time passes as the group keeps up the chase, following the wolves. They take care of one more hostile wolf and a few round beasts targeting them, but don't encounter any more snakes. The swamp, meanwhile, gets thicker and thicker, and it becomes quite hard to move forward.
Konrad somehow manages to be the only one to cut himself on a sharp, thorny plant almost fully covered and hidden by the swamp, and Auren quickly heals it, not willing to risk any lingering infection.
Meanwhile, there are a lot of insects, resembling flies and mosquitoes, around. Leira somehow manages to catch a few and imprison them in a small glass bottle.
I'm glad I got my Regalia... Neffi's suits are fine and a great help as well, but since Konrad is wearing a thinner one focused on mobility, he can still get hurt. Meanwhile, I can crush anything in my path.
After this is over, I need to heal us all... just to make sure we don't catch any diseases... which is realistic with the brutality and disgusting practices around here.
Finally, when the sun is already setting, they see the wolves stopping.
To their surprise, the swamp clears up, and the ground becomes dry again. In what appears to be a small island, with the swamp waters surrounding it, they see a large tree, completely isolated, with no other plants nearby.
By now, Auren spots three wolves in total. They drop onto the ground, as if worshipping the tree.
"That tree looks special," Neffi mutters. "These wolves really are worshipping it."
"Look at the tree..." Auren says, his Aura concentrated in his eyes. "I see fruits on the tree... and they contain Aura!"
Konrad immediately perks up and takes a look, recognizing the mango-shaped, blue-purple colored fruits on the tree.
"We need to get them..." Konrad immediately says, his greed showing. "They must be a treasure."
"Let's wait and see first," Leira urges them, pulling Konrad back, who has already moved forward.
Auren feels the tree suddenly reveal Aura on its own.
A tree... capable of using Aura? Is it... a beast?
The wolf Auren has been tailing all this time, walks forward and empties its cage, dropping the insides onto the ground.
Within seconds, a large root reveals itself, burying the flesh beneath the tree.
Next, a fruit drops onto the ground, and the wolf stares at it with excitement before howling loudly.
Suddenly, a smaller wolf, definitely of the same species, but interestingly enough without the cage made of bones on its back, approaches.
It stares at the fruit and eats it, and in the very next moment, the young wolf suddenly glows with Aura, having just awakened, and the familiar ribs grow on its back.
All four wolves howl before the younger one disappears back in the jungle, followed by the one the group has been tailing all this time.
An offspring? It was her child?
The process repeats, and both wolves present their meat to the tree, and each receives a fruit for their efforts.
However, unlike the first wolf, they quickly eat the fruits themselves. Auren immediately notices a slight increase in Aura as they do, before walking away, seemingly satisfied.
"You still want that fruit, Konrad?" Auren asks. "Go ahead... you might end up with a little more Aura... and a crazy cage made out of your own mutated bones on your back."
"Pass..." he says disheartedly.
"Auren..." Leira says, but Auren raises his hand, immediately replying, "I know of the risks... we still need to obtain it."
"The question is... do we just steal one... or take care of the tree?" Auren wonders, deep in thought.
"I can easily snatch a few fruits," Neffi says. "My clothes can simply cut them off and then carry them back to us."
"I believe my Nen beasts could also steal a couple without any risk," Goreinu adds.
"The question is... how does the tree react?" Auren wonders. "Frankly speaking, I don't want any more mutated Nen wolves around... without Nen, the wolves can even be killed by normal soldiers if they put enough bullets into them. Speaking long term, of course...."
"So what are you saying?" Konrad wonders.
"I want that tree... disposed of," Auren announces. "We can still gather the fruit or grow a new one. I'm pretty sure you can do that, Leira. So this tree with a conscience needs to go."
"Vanessa, you'll charge up the biggest Meteor Fist you can... go all out," Auren announces.
I don't see any other reasonable way to destroy it.
"Neffi, Eren, Goreinu, we'll take the fruits, and once we get them, take it down, Vanessa. A stationary target is exactly what your Hatsu is made for," Auren continues his orders.
"Auren... the tree has Nen... it seems to have a will... a consciousness. How can we simply kill it? It has done nothing wrong..." Leira argues.
"Leira, you'll take care of Konrad, protect him," Auren orders. "After the tree is disposed of, you can grow your own... we'll take the fruits, remember?"
"Indeed..." Leira mutters, now realizing the possibility, her mood improving instantly.
"The tree can control roots. I want you to pay attention, especially you, Goreinu. Stay a little farther back, and if one of us is really in trouble, you can use Black Goreinu to save us, or save yourself with White Goreinu."
"Okay," Goreinu states, giving him a thumbs up.
I'm so glad to have him with us. His Hatsu is just incredible. We essentially got two lives... even if one of us or he himself is caught. Spatial Hatsus are incredible. I can use it myself using Water Clones, but his use of that principle is far more advanced and useful.
"Let's do this, before more wolves show up!" Auren says, dashing forward, Eternity drawn.
As they approach the tree, they can see its Aura spike, the entire tree covered in a small yet noticeable Aura, appearing almost alien to them. Suddenly, its Aura erupts, creating an insanely large En bubble around it, sensing anything happening around it.
"It has spotted us! Be aggressive," Auren yells.
Auren does not waste time; he quickly runs up the tree trunk and cuts off a huge branch with tens of fruits on it, sending it crashing to the ground.
Neffi and Eren target another side, Eren using his Hatsu to quickly stab one branch until it finally breaks off, while Neffi controls multiple pieces of her clothing to quickly grab as many fruits as possible.
In just thirty seconds, almost all of the fruits of the tree are on the ground or collected, Goreinu using his Nen beasts to help grab them and then throw them to him, while he catches them in a large bag.
Finally, the tree, just like Auren predicted, counters with its roots, trying to wrap them around Auren, who merely climbs higher onto the tree, easily avoiding them.
Out of curiosity, he uses Limitless Water and then Ko and stabs Eternity into the tree trunk.
While extremely hard, Auren still feels Eternity penetrate into the tree, its recent improvements, along with Auren's incredible progress, giving it a frightening amount of penetrative power.
To his surprise, he feels a massive amount of Aura getting drained by it, causing him to smile deviously.
"Vanessa! Stand by! Don't destroy it! Abort! Everyone else, fall back! I'll take care of this!"
Confused, yet listening to Auren, everyone falls back, except Goreinu's Nen beasts, which continue gathering fruits from the ground, a safe distance away from the tree.
Meanwhile, Auren clings to the tree, and Eternity, stuck inside, keeps draining a massive amount of Aura, more than he has ever seen before.
"Incredible..." he mutters in surprise.
Eternity shows a visible change after just a minute, with over 40% of its body white, starting from the hilt.
The tree desperately flails around with its roots, its Aura flickering, appearing like panic, but Auren dodges them with ease, Eternity still stuck deep in the tree, draining Aura on its own.
It takes a few minutes under that heavy drain until the tree fully stops resisting.
After a full 10 minutes, its leaves begin to wilt, and Auren and the others quickly gather the remaining fruits.
Ten more minutes later, Eternity is now almost half white, the amount of Aura it has drained out of this world, something Auren has never seen before, both in terms of quantity and quality.
As Auren pulls out Eternity, the tree fully collapses, its wood rotten, decayed, and lifeless, every single leaf dropping onto the ground, creating a loud sound that echoes through the jungle.
"Hehehe," Auren laughs, incredibly satisfied as he waves Eternity around, feeling a tremendous sharpness and force, the Aura surrounding it looking unnaturally sharp and powerful, despite Auren just performing Ten.
This is incredible... I thought this would be a goal I need to dedicate almost my entire life to... but it's almost half white!
Suddenly, numerous wolves approach, having heard the struggle and the impact of the fallen tree.
"I'll deal with them," Auren says, confidently walking forward. "I'd love to test Eternity out... and gather even more Aura!"
However, before he can do so, a large moth, easily big enough to pass as a small airship, lands in the newly created clearing, and everyone is surprised and on guard.
The wolves immediately flee at the sight.
"A moth?" Auren wonders, but before he can think things through, a human-like person drops onto the ground, not far away from Auren.
Who is that?!
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A/N: Always thankful for Power Stones, Comments, and Reviews. Thank you for reading!
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